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Hillary Clinton As Potential US President, What It Could Mean For India?

In the past week I read quite a few write ups across publications that lauded Hillary Clinton’s choice of Virginia Senator, Tim Kaine as her White House running mate. Some news headlines, especially India centric ones hailing him as great choice to support India’s cause made me really curious.

While Hillary Clinton and her Spanish-speaking former Virginia governor could be a great choice for taking forward the US interest and the enable the country take the next leap forward, I am rather worried about what all of this could mean for India, especially if the likes of Tim Kaine and Huma Abedin are anywhere close to a decision making team.

Yes Tim Kaine and Huma Abedin are perceived to be two of Hillary Clinton’s closest aides and that could potentially spell out some rather questionable times for India if elected to power. Well the reason I am saying this is because here is what Tim Kaine has been saying about India and Narendra Modi.

After Mr Modi’s joint address to the US Congress this June, Tim Kaine reportedly said and I quote,

“Some members of the Indian-American community in Virginia, many of whom are Sikh, have expressed concerns about issues of religious tolerance and liberty in India. I hope that Prime Minister Modi continues efforts to better protect the inalienable rights afforded to all people, just as we fight against expressions of religious intolerance in our own political climate.”

Matters did not rest there and then. Kaine has raised this issue ahead of Modi’s US visit, in May during the hearing of senate foreign relations committee. We have brought forth to you on Clamorworld how biased that report was. Kaine has also raised the issue of visa refusal by the Indian government in March this year. We all know Kaine has been elected to power from Virginia which boats of a very strong Indian population and he has been working non-stop with them to create a favourable narrative. But would that really work while working with internation policymatters. Afterall Kaine was also amongst the key associates of Obama’s team in 2013 who had wanted India to eliminate or dramatically cut down LNG import from Tehran.

Though Kaine is perceived to have really close ties with members of the Asian American community, the point is India as a country might not always have its interest aligned to that of the Indians residing in Unites States. The other person in question is Huma Abedin. She is one of those complex lesser known members of Hillary Clinton’s team. Her alleged connection with an unexplained Saudi man with links to a terror funcind organization, removal of this organization from the terror watch list eventually raise some uncomfortable questions.

The crux of the matter is India current needs to have a world partner who can give them unconditional support in their mission for zero intolerance to terror organizations and terrorists spreading the scourge of fear and unrest. The doubt is would Hillary Clinton with Tima Kaine and associate Huma Abedin let India down in this tryst if elected?